F2 Monza: Piastri edges Daruvala to feature race pole

Prema's F2 rookie followed up his Silverstone pole with a 1m32.199s wrest the top spot away from Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala by just just 0.041 seconds.

UNI Virtuosi driver Guanyu Zhou, who trails his fellow Alpine junior by five points, claimed third as Liam Lawson (Hitech) qualified fourth.

Amid the usual traffic as drivers attempted to gain a tow, ART’s Theo Pourchaire broke free of the pack to set the first flying lap, a 1m33.277s.

The times tumbled as other drivers cleared their first runs, with Ralph Boschung (Campos) overcoming his earlier mechanical troubles to set the fastest time at that point with a 1m32.609s.

Piastri then took the top spot 10 minutes into the session, going two-tenths quicker than Boschung’s benchmark time, as free practice pacesetter Dan Ticktum went third fastest for Carlin.

After a short break in running, all 22 drivers returned to the track for two more push laps with 10 minutes left of the session.

Series returnee David Beckmann, now driving for Campos after the former Charouz driver replaced Matteo Nannini, headed the cars out of the pits before the usual Monza track position chaos ensued.

As the field bunched up in a bid to find the best spot on-track, Boschung pitted in an attempt to get a better position, but was called onto the weighbridge. This ruined his ploy and forced the Swiss to push to reach the back of the pack for a tow.

Jehan Daruvala, Carlin

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

With Piastri still on top, Zhou improved from P8 to second, before Boschung pushed him down into third with a 1m32.553s.

The times continued to tumble in the last two minutes of the session with Lawson briefly claiming the top spot, before Zhou and then Daruvala subsequently set quicker times.

Finally, Piastri recaptured the spot with a 1m23.199s as 0.057s split the top three on the grid.

Beckmann will start on reverse grid pole for tomorrow’s first sprint race, with Juri Vips (Hitech) second, Ticktum third and Pourchaire fourth.

Formula 2 Monza Qualifying results: 

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Oscar Piastri	Prema Powerteam	12	1'32.199
2	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	12	1'32.240	0.041
3	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	12	1'32.256	0.057
4	Liam Lawson	HitechGP	12	1'32.383	0.184
5	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	12	1'32.409	0.210
6	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	12	1'32.553	0.354
7	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	12	1'32.586	0.387
8	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	12	1'32.641	0.442
9	Jüri Vips	HitechGP	12	1'32.675	0.476
10	David Beckmann	Campos Racing	12	1'32.699	0.500
11	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	12	1'32.885	0.686
12	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Powerteam	12	1'32.942	0.743
13	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	13	1'32.965	0.766
14	Marino Sato	Trident	12	1'33.023	0.824
15	Roy Nissany	DAMS	12	1'33.031	0.832
16	Jake Hughes	HWA Racelab	12	1'33.043	0.844
17	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	13	1'33.054	0.855
18	Bent Viscaal	Trident	12	1'33.080	0.881
19	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	12	1'33.155	0.956
20	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	12	1'33.193	0.994
21	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	13	1'33.478	1.279
22	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	12	1'34.194	1.995
View full results